Congress party previously alleged that names were deleted by the former TRS govt, in nexus with Election Commission.

The Election Commission of India has apologised for missing 22 lakh names in electoral rolls in Telangana on Friday, December 7. Many people complained that they could not cast their votes. The Congress party had previously alleged that names were deleted without informing the voters.

After polling was over on Friday evening, Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar accepted the mistake of the commission and apologised to the voters who could not vote in the Assembly elections, Live Mint reported. “It was a major mistake. I apologise to the people personally. Many people I know personally told me they could not vote. There has been an apparent mistake,” he said.

According to the Congress party, the ECI deleted names from the electoral rolls between 2015 and 2018. Former Marri Shashidhar Reddy alleged that the former Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government deleted 30 lakh names from the electoral rolls, in close nexus with the Election Commission.

In September, without clarifying the CEO had said that the number of names in the electoral rolls was reduced from 2.83 crore 2.61 crore. The basis of deletion of names was not explained.

The results for the Assembly elections will be declared on December 11.